I love readers! Some of your messages make me laugh. Thank you so much for your comments along the way. Joe isn't very happy with me at the moment and threatened to quit playing. I'm very glad Ben doesn't know where I live.

Chapter Six

The schoolhouse looked vastly different in the darkness than it did during the day. The full moon cast eerie shadows against the building and it took a few minutes for the panicked trio to find the piece of boarding they had pried loose to get underneath it. Derek led the way in since Joe was in no fit shape to take his usual place directing things. It frightened the boy to see his older friend and protector so badly shaken and he tried desperately to think what to do. He flicked through a couple of ideas before finally settling on the one that seemed the most like what Joe would do. As he felt Matthew trembling against him, he wrapped an arm tightly around the younger boy and tried to reassure him.

"It's gonna be okay. We can still get out of here. We've got the bag here with everything we need."

Joe seemed to shake himself out of whatever had seized hold of him and he groped around in the dark. As his fingers laid hold of the leather strap, he pulled it towards him and wrapped his hands around it. It was the one part of the plan that was still intact.

"We can't get you on the stagecoach now. We can't wait two days. There's gonna be a posse riding out after … after …" The words dried up in his throat as he once again pictured the man who had so callously taken aim at him and gunned down the town's sheriff before leaving them both for dead. His breathing was hitching as he talked and he found himself wanting to cry.

His father's friend was dead.

His father would hate him for it.

He slumped back against the wooden pole that underpinned the schoolhouse floor and tried to clear his head. His face was throbbing painfully and he wanted nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep. And not ever wake up again. The nightmares usually stalked his sleep, but this one was clearly not going to go away with the new dawn.

Joe heard Matthew beginning to cry again in the darkness and Derek trying his best to calm his brother.

"We can still get you on the stage if we can get you to Reno."

"Reno? How are we gonna get to Reno, Joe? We were s'posed to get the stage from Virginia City!"

Joe's head was pounding and he closed his eyes against the dizziness. "Horses. We need a couple of horses. There'll be plenty in the livery."

"You mean we're gonna steal some horses?"

The incredulous tone of Derek's question would have made Joe laugh on any other day. He was already in so much trouble that he couldn't possibly envisage it getting any worse. He was fairly certain he was too young to be hung as a horse thief, but if he took the horses to Reno and then brought them back, it wasn't really theft. He was just borrowing them.

"No, we're gonna borrow some. Just for a coupla days."

The blood had finally stopped oozing from his nose and Joe felt the encrusted mess across his face beginning to itch. He wanted to crawl out and find the nearest water trough, but they could all hear the sounds of men gathering for a posse. He couldn't risk it just yet and he didn't think he had the energy anyway.

"Hey Joe, wouldn't your horse still be out the front of the mercantile?"

Joe shifted against the pole and almost smiled. "He could be. Unless Pa picked him up already." The smile quickly slid away as he considered his father taking his horse home for the night while leaving him sitting in the jail.

"How's about I go and check and you rest up a bit with Matthew?"

As much as Joe wanted to object, he also wanted to sit and let his face stop throbbing for a while. As Derek wriggled back out through the opening, Matthew scooted closer to Joe and leaned against his leg. As Joe felt the small boy's hand reaching up to grasp hold of his, he desperately wished he had one or both of his older brothers to grab hold of too. He closed his eyes to hold back the tears that threatened. His brothers wouldn't be so eager to hold onto him when they knew how much trouble he'd caused.

Ben stood in the doorway to the cell and felt his stomach churning. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. He was so angry at his son that a couple of hours to cool his heels in a jail cell had seemed like a worthwhile lesson. The knife that Joe had tried to steal still lay on Roy's desk and he glared at it. It was only worth a few lousy dollars. He still had no idea what had possessed his son, but whatever his reasoning, his life was worth more than a few dollars or a stolen knife.

Ben's knees almost buckled as he surveyed the blood-spattered wall and floor again. Roy had managed to tell them that Kent fired two shots. One of those slugs was in the sheriff's shoulder and one was embedded in the far wall. It had apparently passed through his son on its way there. A blood trail across the floor showed him that Joe was still on his feet, but once he reached the dirt street outside, there was no way to track him any further.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Roy's weakened voice carried across the room and Ben turned back towards him. Paul was busy trying to slow the bleeding while his friend waited to help support the injured man across to the doctor's office. Roy's deputies had already headed out to pull together a posse to search for the fugitive while Adam and Hoss had gone back to the Silver Dollar to string together a search party to look for Joe around the town. Ben had been torn between chasing after his two eldest sons and trying to stem the profuse bleeding from his friend while waiting for the doctor to arrive. He stared down at his blood-streaked hands and felt sick again.

Ben crouched down and patted at Roy's arm. "Not your fault, Roy. I'm the one who made the decision to leave Joe here."

A short time later Roy was settled in Paul's office, being prepared to have the slug removed from his shoulder. Ben was satisfied he was in good hands and was about to head out to join the search when Adam and Hoss burst in through the door. Roy was quickly growing drowsy from the effects of the blood loss, but he was still determined to get an answer to his questions and he pushed himself upright.

"Have they found him yet? Is the boy alright?"

Paul knew from many years of friendship that the town's sheriff would hold himself responsible for Joe's welfare, no matter what the outcome was.

Adam grasped at his father's arm as he tried to slow his breathing. It was clear that both brothers had been running.

"Pa … we might have a lead."

"Yeah, Pa. Joe's horse is gone. We're guessin' he's run for home."

"His horse?' Ben found his mind scrambling to catch up. He snapped his fingers as he realised what they were saying. "Of course! Joe's horse was outside the mercantile. If it's gone, then we should be able to catch up with him soon."

Ben turned back to see Roy smiling at him. "Get outta here, Ben. Go find that boy o' yours and make sure he's okay."

"I'll be on my way just as soon as I'm done here." Paul waved a hand towards the door.

Ben nodded as he followed his boys back out into the street. The ride home to the Ponderosa had never seemed longer as they galloped through the darkness. By rights, they should have caught up with Joe along the way. When they arrived at the house and found there was no sign of him, Ben dragged every last hand out of the bunkhouse before saddling fresh horses and charging straight back to Virginia City. If Joe hadn't made it home, then where on earth had he gone instead?

It was almost an hour after Derek had left that Joe heard the boarding being shifted aside and he could make out the silhouette of someone moving towards him. He knew it was Derek, but that didn't stop him from feeling a momentary fear that he'd been found. He'd been sitting and going over the events in the jail and one thing kept tracking around and around in his thoughts. The man who'd killed the sheriff had said he hadn't spared his own father. Joe knew enough of life in the territories to have seen that human life could be considered cheap, but he couldn't conceive of anybody killing their own father.

"Good news. I got your horse out the back of the schoolhouse. I had to go the long way round so nobody saw me."

Derek slid down next to Joe and immediately Matthew grasped hold of his arm.

"I got another idea, Joe."

"Yeah."

"Well, I was thinkin' on the way back here, that instead of … well … instead of borrowing a horse from the livery, me and Matthew just borrow your horse. We can leave him in the livery in Reno and your pa could get him back again."

Joe shook his head, aware that Derek couldn't see his face clearly in the gloom.

"And do you know how to get to Reno on your own?"

"Well ... no … but it can't be too hard."

"The last thing I need is you two riding my horse off into the desert and gettin' lost!" Joe choked back the comment he wanted to add. It wasn't the last thing he needed, but given how much his plan had gone to pieces, he needed to ensure that at least something good came from it. He needed to see his friends on the way to their new life and freedom. It wasn't anywhere near a fair trade, but Roy Coffee's life had to count for something. "Besides, I made a promise to you and I'm gonna keep it."

The morning sunrise over Virginia City brought both good and bad news. Paul had put the word out that their sheriff would be back on his feet in a few days, assuming he could keep the man down that long. The posse had sent riders out to the Johnston ranch and Roy's fears were confirmed when they found Frank sprawled face down in the dirt as if he'd been shot down opening his front door. They had set off in the direction of Kent Johnston's next potential victims based on the list of people he'd threatened at his trial. The circuit judge and Kent's own lawyer were at the top of the list, along with anybody who had served on the jury. That left a local list of seven men while the rest were scattered between Carson City and Sacramento. Wires had already been sent out when he'd escaped from prison, but Roy insisted that new ones be sent again, giving updated information and renewed warnings.

The hands who rode out from the Ponderosa in various directions had all come up empty-handed and with the volume of riders in and out of the town, there was no way to even attempt tracking one horse.

Ben stood on the verandah of the doctor's office, twisting his hat in his hands. After a fruitless night of searching, he had returned to speak to Roy and see if he could offer up any further ideas of where Joe might have gone. Anything, such as some scrap of their conversation or an intuitive guess. Anything that could put paid to the dread that was spreading through his body. With each hour that rolled by with no sign of his son, his thoughts grew darker and more introspective.

"Pa?" Hoss had called his father three times, but it wasn't until he edged in front of him that he responded. "Pa, did Roy have anything he remembered?"

"No. He said Joe wasn't talking much at all, but Roy was certain that it was the Maddington boy who had that knife first. For some reason, Joe tried to cover for him and got caught."

"That same boy he was with the other day? The one whose pa got mad at Joe?"

"Yes."

Hoss rubbed at the back of his neck as he considered that. He knew something sounded off about the whole thing and Roy's comment certainly sounded more plausible than Joe just deciding to steal something.

"Pa, why don't we take a ride out to their place and ask that boy if'n he knows anything about where Joe might be? I mean, he mighta figured they was both in trouble or he might know where Joe'd run off to."

Ben seemed to be staring out into the street and it seemed as if he wouldn't answer. The confrontation with the boy's father had left a sour taste, especially given Joe's blasé attitude to ignoring the man's wishes. Now he wondered if there wasn't more to it.

"It's worth a try, Pa." Adam moved closer to his father's shoulder.

An hour later, Hoss's hunch had answered one question while producing several more. Walter Maddington was just pulling himself out of a drunken stupor when the trio rode into his yard and the foul-mouthed barrage that was flung at them would not be forgotten any time soon. It soon became clear that neither of the boys were around and it was also clear that it was the first that Walter had realised that. There was no telling how long they had been gone, but he eventually pulled a rifle from behind the door and threatened to put holes in all of them and their horses if they didn't leave. On the ride back into town, Ben decided his next stop was the schoolhouse to talk to any of Joe's friends who may know anything useful.

"Mister Cartwright … has there been any news of Joe?" The school teacher was standing on the porch of the schoolhouse when they rode up and Ben was surprised to see her there. It was well past time for school to commence, but there was an eerie quiet to the place. It wasn't until he glanced around that he realised why. Many of the children rode horses to school, but there were none tethered anywhere nearby. He frowned as he looked around.

"Where are all the children?"

"Oh, Doctor Martin says we have two confirmed cases of measles and he's declared a quarantine. We both know it's most likely too late to stop an outbreak, but it's the best we can do."

Ben nodded at the comment, remembering only too well how sick and irritable all three of his boys had been as measles had rampaged through the town over nine years earlier.

Miss Jones looked at the three men in front of her and saw the exhaustion settling over all three of them. "Mister Cartwright … I heard what happened last night. Please tell me you've found Little Joe already."

Ben almost dropped his head, but somehow he held her gaze. "I'm afraid not. That's why I called in here, to speak with the Maddington boys. I have reason to believe they may know something about where Joseph may be."

"Derek and Matthew? They haven't shown up today. I assumed they may have been informed already, but then again … it isn't unusual for them to miss school days."

"Well we've just been out to their home and they aren't there. Do you have any idea where they may have gone instead?"

The young teacher shook her head as she worried at her lip. She knew the boys were living in less than ideal circumstances, but would have been horrified if she'd known the full truth of it. It wouldn't surprise her if the two of them played hookey on the warm summer days instead of gracing her with their presence. She'd seen that Derek had the makings of a good pupil, but he'd clearly missed whole chunks of his education. Every time she had tried to prompt him to open up, he had done the opposite and clammed up completely.

"Mitch Devlin may know something. The four of them have been as thick as thieves for the last couple of months."

Ben winced at her choice of words, but he nodded in agreement. Roy said Mitch had been there at the mercantile too. If anybody knew anything, his son's best friend and usual partner in crime would be the place to start.

"Good idea. Has Mitch been to school this morning?"

"He's been and gone, I'm afraid. I sent all the children home that have been here this morning."

"Thank you anyway. I guess we'll take a ride out to the Devlin's." Ben tipped his hat as he pulled at his horse's reins. Hoss and Adam followed suit and without needing to confer, the three of them were soon galloping out on the road that led to the Devlin's home.

On any other day, Mitch would have reveled in the idea of a closed school and time to fish and swim in the summer heat. He and Joe would have bounded out of the classroom and made a bid for freedom. But it wasn't any other day. Joe was probably half dead from the flogging his father would have given him and he figured it would be a month of Sundays before his friend was ever allowed out anywhere again.

As Mitch moped along the edge of the creek, he couldn't find any spark of interest in dropping in a fishing line. Instead he figured he'd take his horse for a ride since there wasn't much else to do. When his stomach finally got the better of him and he turned for home, he was stunned to find his mother shouting his name from the front porch. He groaned as he wondered if he'd been tied together with Joe for something and decided it was the most likely cause for his mother yelling at him.

As he pulled his horse into the yard, his mother reached for his bridle and grasped at his leg. "Mitch, the Cartwrights were here, looking for Little Joe. Have you seen him today?"

"No, Ma! Not since yesterday."

He guessed that Joe's pa would have been furious at him and he hated to think what level of a tanning had been handed out, but had it been so bad that Joe had run off? His mother tightened her grip on his knee and he couldn't understand why she looked so scared.

"Mitch, this is important. Do you have any idea where Joe would go if he needed to hide?"

"Hide? Why would Joe be hidin'?"

Fear welled up from his gut at the look that passed over his mother's face. She licked at her lips as she considered how to answer.

"There was some trouble at the jail last night. Joe … well Joe could be hurt … and his pa is trying to find him."

The words weren't fully registering, but one idea came to mind. If Joe was in trouble and needed somewhere to hide out, where better than where they had stashed supplies?

"I know where he might be, Ma. I gotta go check."

As Mitch pushed his horse towards town, his mother was on her way to the Ponderosa in the hopes of delivering some much-needed good news.